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Vietnam was divided in 1954 at the 17th Parallel by the Geneva Accords – a division opposed by the State of Vietnam. The North was ruled as one-party dictatorship and the South continued to be under the jurisdiction of the State of Vietnam which became the Republic of Vietnam. The Geneva Accords allowed within a specific period of time the movement of people between the two Vietnams. While less than one hundred thousand moved to the North, an estimated one million Vietnamese chose not to stay under the Northern communist regime and went to the South. The Vietnam War In January 1959, Hanoi issued a secret resolution authorising an ‘armed struggle’ and subsequently in the following year, set up its National Liberation Front to begin large-scale operations against South Vietnam. With massive and continuous support from the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, Hanoi supplied troops and other military equipment in earnest, and the infiltration of men and women and weapons from the north began on land along the Ho Chi Minh Trail (camp Ho Chi Minh) and by sea. This led to a so called Vietnam War waged by the communist North and aided and abetted by Beijing, Moscow and the Warsaw Pact. The key role played by the South Vietnamese armed forces was reflected in their heavy toll: over 185,000 killed-in-action (about 4 times the Americans') and about 500,000 thousand injured. ====
1968 Tet Offensive
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The Communist 1968 Tet Offensive, which took place during an agreed truce for the Vietnamese New Year and was portrayed in Western media as an American failure, was actually a severe military defeat for the communists by the South Vietnamese armed forces. Hanoi not only did not reach a single one of its objectives but instead had some 50,000 of its troops killed during this offensive and many thousands more wounded. Thousands of civilians were murdered and buried in the mass graves in Hue by the invading forces during this campaign. This marked one of the most horrific actions by the communists during the war. 1972 Offensive
In the subsequent Easter Offensive in March 1972, it was again South Vietnam's soldiers who defeated the communists: Hanoi’s Easter Offensive was another disaster for the communists. Some 70,000 North Vietnamese troops were wiped out – by the South Vietnamese who fought courageously and heroically. Politically, however, the United States, South Vietnam’s main ally, was forced to follow a withdrawal strategy at all costs, as a result of lack of popular support for the continued American commitment in Vietnam. 1973 Paris Agreement
In the beginning there was the plight of the Vietnamese Boat-people attempting to flee to freedom over the South China Sea. In overfilled, decrepit boats the fate of thousands was decided, they became victims of storms or pirates. In 1979 Christel and Rupert Neudeck, together with a group of friends, formed the committee ‘A ship for Vietnam’ and chartered for the rescue mission the freighter "Cap Anamur" named after a cape off the Turkish coast. The journeys of ‘Cap Anamur’ (and her sister ships) were - against the predictions of many ‘experts’- a huge success: 10,375 boat people were rescued from the sea and a further 35,000 were medically treated. Pulau Bidong Established in July 1978 by the Malaysian government and the UNHCR as a place for stateless Vietnamese to seek asylum in another country, Bidong in its first year of operation received more than 52,000 refugees from 453 boats. In 1979, with about 10,000 re-settled to other countries, 40,000 refugees were living in an area of less than one square kilometer. It operated for 13 years until the last refugee left in 1991. In total about 250,000 Vietnamese boat people arrived in Pulau Bidong from 1978 to 1991. Galang Galang Refugee Camp was situated in Pulau Galang, Indonesia’ to accommodate Indochinese Refugees from 1979 to 1996. The camp was closed seven years after the Comprehensive Plan of Action was adopted. Most refugees stayed in wooden long houses or makeshift accommodation. Their main activities in the camp were to study English and other languages or vocational skills while waiting for the result of the procedure to determine their refugees’ status and resettlement in other countries. Hong Kong Hong Kong received its first wave of Vietnamese refugees on 4 May 1975. This arrival marked the start of a wave of refugee exodus to Hong Kong. The tide of refugees continued to flow, and in total more than 100,000 Vietnamese sought refugee rights in Hong Kong. Others There were also other camps set up in Thailand and Singapore for a period of time. Overall, it was estimated that some 2 million Vietnamese people left the country between 1975-1989 on foot to nearby Thailand and Cambodian borders or by boat to refugee camps set up by the UNHCR. Australia’s role - Operation Babylift
In the final month before the fall of Saigon, the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Australia’s participation in the initial days following the fall of Saigon included an operation called Operation Babylift along with the US, Canada and Europe. Huge cargo planes arrived in Saigon which took hundreds of babies in cardboard boxes and frightened toddlers and older children strapped in with seat belts along the hard aluminium benches on each side of the aircraft, lifting these orphan children to new lives in distant countries such as Australia. Tragically, one of the first official government flights of Operation Babylift was struck down by disaster. A C-5A Galaxy plane (the largest airplane in the world at that time) departing with more than 300 children and adults exploded 40 miles out of Saigon and 23,000 feet up in the air. The flight controls were crippled and decompression filled the plane with fog and a whirlwind of debris. Operation Babylift accounted for over 3,000 babies who were flown out of Vietnam including approximately 300 babies who were brought to Australia and were settled in Victoria, NSW and South Australia. The Fraser Government
Just as other Australians have helped Vietnamese refugees find freedom and human rights in this land, Vietnamese Australians are determined to continue to help people in Vietnam regain freedom and democracy. One of the most fundamental principles held by the community is freedom; freedom of speech, expression, human rights, and freedom to lead a dignified life. Let us reciprocate a good deed by doing another good deed. Let us give the good seeds of freedom and democracy that we received to our brothers and sisters in Vietnam. Let freedom and democracy bloom in Vietnam now.
THANK YOU AUSTRALIA THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY PAYS TRIBUTE TO AUSTRALIA ON ITS 35TH YEAR SETTLEMENT ANNIVERSARY
Some pictures of the exhibition – http://picasaweb.google.com/n.9oo9le/35YearsJourneyExhibition1# http://picasaweb.google.com/n.9oo9le/35YearsJourneyExhibition2# ====